Case Study 2: Bridging the Gap
The Rise of Business Integration Roles for Data Professionals
How a growing manufacturer scaled smarter with Data Catalyst roles and a reimagined business model. Scroll down for the full story.
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The Challenge
This manufacturing client was making a bold shift to digital-first product development. But as the company moved from hands-on prototyping to cloud-based systems, they hit a friction point: technology alone couldn’t bridge the gap between legacy teams and emerging digital practices.
What they needed wasn’t just new tools, but new roles to connect the dots across product, engineering, data, and the business.
Only 1 in 4 teams reported feeling confident in using data to make daily decisions—despite the company’s growing digital investments.
1 in 4
The Key Pain Points
Lack of integration between product, analytics, + ops teams
Missed opportunities to apply AI/ML because of knowledge silos
Low visibility into the value of existing data initiatives
Resistance to adopting data-driven workflows and tools
Difficulty scaling customer support without growing headcount
Unclear roles and responsibilities across teams
The Solution: Data Catalyst Role
To bridge the cultural and operational divide, Black Antler introduced and implemented a new role: The Data Catalyst—a cross-functional translator who brings clarity, alignment, and trust into data adoption efforts.
Identifying Opportunities
Proactively uncover pain points where data could drive business value
Encourage experimentation with AI, ML, and emerging tools
Facilitating Collaboration
Guide and mentor teams in data best practices
Act as educators and translators across business units
Enabling Data Democratization
Showcase the ROI of data initiatives with clear metrics and KPIs
Tie insights back to real business outcomes, not just dashboards
Results in 6 Months
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30% reduction in manual work + rework
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Increased capacity through AI Agents without adding headcount
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25% drop in customer churn from a new Customer Success data product
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Improved cross-team alignment and data adoption across business units
Looking Ahead
With Data Catalyst roles embedded, this client is now equipped to scale smarter. They’re applying the same integration model to supply chain, product planning, and service experience—while investing in data literacy programs to deepen adoption across teams.
Business integration is no longer an afterthought—it’s part of their operating model.
Let’s partner together
Wondering if a Data Catalyst could work inside your organization?